tile instead of repticarpet?

[geckonewbie213]

im looking to change my substrate to tile instead of the repticarpet but im not entirely sure how it will affect my leos..any suggestions or opinions? :main_huh:

 

[smsararas2]

I have tried it all and am most happy with tile. With the carpet when my leos jumped on a cricket some times their mouths would get stuck on the fibers of the carpet. Sooooo after spending all the money to carpet three tanks I ended up going out and buying tile the next day. The only thing that I found with the tile is I cut a spot out where their hide is and used paper towel for them to lay on and get their heat. Mine did not seem to have any issues with it other than not being scared to go after crickets. Hope this helps.

 

[geckonewbie213]

yeah ive already noticed that my one leo gets her mouth caught on the fibers whenever she goes for a cricket. i plan to get the tile this weekend. thanks for the input!

 

[fl_orchidslave]

In addition to getting teeth and toes stuck in repticarpet fibers, it also harbors bacteria if not cleaned requently. Tiles, whether stone or vinyl, are easy to wipe clean. Paper towels are easy to change to keep clean. If you're looking for a more natural viv, tiles are the way to go.

 

[geckonewbie213]

natural is the way to go.

 

[Joao]

Your title should be a statement ... Not a question.

 

[Dog Shrink]

I use high end vinyl simulated slate tiles in my viv and LOVE them. They look natural, heat well (whereas some natural porcelain or ceramic tiles are hard to heat or slate can be too thick and uneven requiring a sand base before you can install the slate tiles), stick directly to the tank bottom so nothing can get underneath them (even moisture), there are no off gasses, and are easy to clean. Well my viv is easy to clean anyway because Eros uses a litterbox . There's some pix of my natural set up in my user profile photo albums if you wanted to see how they look.

 

[PaladinGirl]

So the vinyl tiles with the sticky bottom are safe to use? I've been using reptile carpet for Toon. I haven't noticed any real issues with it yet, but then again it's not like I see him out hunting a whole lot with the whole nocturnal thing. I may just go out tomorrow and get some!

 

[Dog Shrink]

Yes the vinyl tiles with the sticky bottoms are fine as long as you get the HIGH end tiles that crack when you bend them rather than those that you can practically bend in half before they snap. They should be at least $2-$3 a tile not the .50 cent cheapos.

Here's a pic from when I was building my tank just to give you an idea of the style I used.

and a view of Eros on the tiles that shows their texture (sort of. The flash made them look a lot lighter)

 

[PaladinGirl]

Cool, how long have u been using the vinyl tiles? Do you notice any kind of smell from the UTH with them?

Another thing I was considering is putting a single layer of paper tile over the reptile carpet to prevent toe snags. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Dog Shrink]

I've had my tiles in since october when I set the tank up. I also use to install vinyl tile and carpet, use to have my own subcontractorship when I lived in NJ in my younger days. There is no smell, no off-gasses, not even when I first set the tank up and was going thru the testing/breaking in phase where I got the temps up to 110*F using the uth and an infrered heat bulb just to make sure, but you HAVE use the high end tiles. The glue doesn't melt until you get it heated to 120*F or higher. The only problem you could run into using carpet and tiles is that the substrait could be too thick and difficult to heat. I have my tiles stuck directly to the bottom of the tank with a T-Rex 6x11 7 watt cobra UTH that heats at a consistant 100 degrees (on a rheostat set at 93 degrees tho) and have NEVER smelled anything funky coming from the tank that would make me think the tiles were putting off gasses.